The British Museum Library and Reading Room played a significant role in George Bernard Shaw's literary life. Having already read every book that had come his way, Shaw first gravitated toward the reading room in 1880, where he began work on his second novel and drafted most of his three remaining novels. His literary, artistic and musical…

Three famous writers--Eudora Welty, Madeleine L'Engle, and Jack London--used their silent reading experiences to survive not only their childhoods, but also to become adult chroniclers of human lives. Pulitzer-prize winning author Eudora Welty credits an extended period of silent reading when she was 7 years old (and home from school for nearly a…

An author and teacher offers a memoir of his experiences with reading and writing. (FL)

This paper briefly explores the related enterprises that assisted Virginia Woolf in her effort to re-form the English novel to include, not only the deeds, but the thoughts of her characters. Among these enterprises were Woolf's diaries, which she utilized to practice writing, work out her writing philosophy, and collect observations which would…